Having students determine key words in their research questions and synonyms for those key words provides some of those tools. Additionally, students need to think of some key phrases that will also help them locate information. This lesson is designed to help students develop this research tool.
The name glucose is from the Greek word for 'sweet' , which is 'glukus.' Glucose is a monosaccharide, which is another term for a simple sugar. It is one of three monosaccharides that are used by the body, but it is the only one that can be used directly to produce ATP. ATP is used by the body for energy; in fact, ATP is the only molecule that can be used for energy. Thus, adequate glucose levels are essential.
Glycolysis is the major pathway of glucose metabolism and occurs in the cytosol of all cells. It can occur aerobically or anaerobically depending on whether oxygen is available. This is clinically significant because oxidation of glucose under aerobic conditions results in 32 mol of ATP per mol of glucose. However, under anaerobic conditions, only 2 mol of ATP can be produced. Aerobic glycolysis occurs in 2 steps. The first occurs in the cytosol and involves the conversion of glucose to pyruvate with resultant production of NADH. This process alone generates 2 molecules of ATP.